Dragon Canon

The girl Wei Yuan had assumed to be a decoration or a prop had moved without warning. A crimson sword aura instantly appeared in his hand, and he nearly thrust it at the girl. But upon focusing his mind, he realized that the girl’s eyes were tightly closed. In fact, she had never moved in the first place.

It was at this moment Sun Yu suddenly said, “Everyone, shield yourselves with your Dao energy. The resentment in this place is too thick; it can gradually transform a living person into a yin spirit.”

Wei Yuan quickly examined his whole body. As his senior uncle pointed out, he discovered that some extremely minute parts of his physical body had already lost all sensation without him noticing. He immediately ordered all cultivators save for those from the Palace of Absolute Beginning to retreat outside the underground chamber.

Sun Yu examined the young boys and girls in the hall and found that their physical bodies were still fresh and alive. Yes, they were alive, unlike the little girl who had transformed into the shadow monster. However, there was no vitality within their bodies, nor did they possess souls. They were like empty shells of flesh.

The group proceeded to inspect several nearby halls and found the same scenery everywhere. However, some of the wooden shrines were empty and unfilled.

After inspecting more than a dozen halls in succession, Wei Yuan descended to the next level. The halls on this level were largely identical to those on the higher level, except that the boys and girls in the wooden shrines were even younger—around twelve or thirteen years old.

Sun Yu examined several of the youths in succession, drawing blood samples on the spot for testing, before stating, “They share the same seed and origin.”

“Are they all siblings?” Wei Yuan asked.

‘Not necessarily, but they definitely share the same bloodline. It’s very close,” Sun Yu replied.

Wei Yuan descended another level. This was the final tier of halls outside the plaza; beyond it lay the plaza itself. The design of the halls on this level differed from those before. They were all built of stone and gave off a sinister and eerie atmosphere.

Just like before, Wei Yuan pushed open the doors of a hall and stepped inside first. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the scenery shifted before his eyes, revealing a dimly lit room where red candles burned everywhere. By now, Wei Yuan had gotten used to the sights and watched quietly.

A newlywed bride sat on the bed, dressed in wedding attire so red it looked as if it had been dyed with blood. A young groom, also dressed in wedding attire, stepped into the room and closed the door carefully. Then, he approached the bride and prepared to lift the veil.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. He couldn’t help but feel that he would see something that should not be there once the veil was lifted[1].

The young groom was grasping the edge of the veil with both hands when suddenly, he exhaled a faint stream of white mist that struck the bride squarely in the forehead. The bride instantly stiffened in place.

The next instant, the young groom’s movements became lightning-fast. He pushed the bride onto the bed, drew the wedding bed curtains, and blew out the red candles. He then took off his wedding clothes and escaped through the window.

But after he left, the bride—her face still veiled—poked her head out of the curtains and glanced in the direction the groom had fled. Then, she silently lowered the curtains again.

The scene before Wei Yuan shifted to that of a mountainous wilderness. The young man and his lover were running like the wind, leaving the city behind them farther and farther behind.

The scene changed again, and the quiet little courtyard at the very beginning reappeared. However, it looked like it belonged to a time before that scene—the decorations hadn’t been fully done yet.

The young man was sporting a short beard, and the woman’s features had taken on a mature grace. The two of them were working together in the courtyard, planting flowers and tending to the garden. Suddenly, a baby’s cry rang out from inside the house. The woman hurriedly stood up and ran into the room, not even bothering to wipe the mud from her hands.

The young man finished planting the last flower before rising to his feet. He was going to join the woman and check on the baby.

He had just lifted his leg when he froze mid-step and slowly turned his head.

The courtyard gate swung open on its own without a breeze. Standing outside was a woman with a shaved head and cyan eyes. Wearing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she said softly, “The Ancestor’s blood flows within you. The world may be vast, but there is nowhere for you to go.”

The scene faded, and Wei Yuan returned to reality.

In the hall before him were four square pools. They should have been filled with water, but they had dried up completely. Standing at the center of the four pools was a bizarre Buddhist statue, glaring with fury. It had four arms, each holding a treasure vase with the sprouts pointing toward the pools. The statue’s body was wrapped in lifelike depictions of naked women, venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and more.

Several skeletons lay at the bottom of the pools. One of them was sprawled at the edge of a pool, seemingly trying to crawl outside. Its lower half was missing.

The group searched the hall for a moment but found no clues, nor could they determine the purpose of this place. Zhang Sheng studied the Buddhist statue for a while before saying with a frown, “This Buddhist statue looks a little like the legacy of Esoteric Buddhism, but also not really.”

“Let’s check out the other areas,” Wei Yuan said.

The rest of the halls on this level featured the same layout: four square pools, with most of them containing fragmented, broken skeletons.

The next and final level after this was the plaza. Several halls had been built along its edges. In the center stood a high platform with a stairway that was 108 steps long. At the very center of that platform stood the hundred-zhang-tall lotus pillar. From up close, the monster coiled around the pillar looked even more lifelike, as if it might break free from its chains at any moment.

The halls along the edge of the plaza were in disarray, with most of their contents having been removed. Judging by the interior layout, they had been used for pill-refinement, though heavens only know what kind of pills were refined here.

There was nothing much to see here, so the group continued onward. As soon as they entered the plaza, Wei Yuan sensed that something was amiss. It felt as if countless pairs of eyes were watching him. He stopped immediately, scanning his surroundings while communicating with the Red Lotus Bodhi. He was hoping to borrow its aura to upgrade his mystic ability, All-seeing Mind.

In response, the Red Lotus Bodhi swayed violently as if about to shed a leaf, only to be immediately stopped by Wei Yuan in a panic. His heart already ached like hell when he used a Bodhi leaf to treat his fatal wound[2]. There was no way he was going to use another one just to observe his surroundings.

Just then, Zhang Sheng also said, “Something feels wrong.”

Ji Liuli summoned the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda. This time, the bronze lamps on the pagoda lit up simultaneously, emitting a faint, clear glow. The woman looked visibly strained as her energies plummeted rapidly.

But thanks to the glow, figures began materializing one after another on the plaza. To everyone’s astonishment, they were all the young boys and girls standing inside the shrines!

Their faces were expressionless, and they were all turning their heads to look at the group with pupilless eyes.

This sight shocked even Zhang Sheng, who exclaimed, “They’re all souls! No wonder those bodies remained alive even though they were merely empty shells!”

Ji Liuli said, “Their souls have all been trapped within this plaza. The resentment of tens of thousands of people, coupled with a karma that prevented them from entering the cycle of reincarnation, is what turned this place into a Land of Absolute Yin. These young boys and girls are likely not ordinary people either; there must be something special about them.”

Suddenly, Wei Yuan sensed something and looked toward the high platform. There, a circle of altars surrounded the central lotus pillar. At the base of the pillar, the plain-clothed swordsman was standing with his hands behind his back and gazing up at the monster bound to the pillar.

Wei Yuan pointed at the high platform and said, “The answer may lie up there. But be careful.”

Ji Liuli withdrew the clear light of the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda and had it emit a dim, yellow glow over the group instead. She said, “I can only offer a slight blessing. If the power is too great, it will cause fatal harm to these souls here. Without their physical bodies to protect them, they are extremely fragile. The only reason they’ve survived this long is thanks to this Land of Absolute Yin.”

Since they all possessed their own means of self-defense, no one objected to the arrangement.

Wei Yuan led the way toward the high platform. In fact, he specifically instructed the others to keep a safe distance from him. The plain-clothed swordsman’s origins were unknown, and his intentions were unclear. However, the general outline he had passed down to Wei Yuan could have been transformed into a single strike capable of slaying an Avatar. In other words, if he refused to share his legacy, he still possessed the ability to unleash a lethal attack.

Wei Yuan climbed the steps to the high platform one by one. Still gazing at the bound monster, the plain-clothed swordsman said softly, “She is my first wife, Shu Ya.”

A thunderclap boomed in Wei Yuan’s mind, and the scenery shifted once more.

It was the same grand hall, the same lofty figure on a high dais. But this time, the hall was exceptionally dim and eerie; a light of unknown origin just barely managed to illuminate a single corner of the chamber.

The hall was also indescribably cold, so cold that Wei Yuan shivered involuntarily.

Before the high dais where a throne stood, the woman was held fast by two towering warriors. She screamed and struggled desperately, but could not break free. Beside them, an elderly man held a little not yet two years old in his arms. As he cooed soothing words at her, he grabbed her tiny arm and suddenly squeezed it hard. A sharp crack echoed through the hall, followed by a piercing wail.

With a thud, the young man fell to his knees and pleaded, “Father, I will do anything! All I ask is that you spare them! Xinyi is your flesh and blood too!”

The bald woman with cyan eyes appeared. Her clothes slipped off one by one as she walked step by step toward the young man, saying, “They can regain their freedom—but only if we bear the child the Ancestor desires.”

The young man trembled slightly, but he offered no resistance when the woman pushed him to the ground.

The scene shifted to a dim alleyway under the cover of night.

The woman, holding a little girl of five or six close to her chest, was running frantically. From time to time, she would glance behind her to check for pursuers. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell to the ground. An arrow had pierced her leg at some unknown moment.

Enduring the pain, the woman shoved the little girl away and shouted, “Run! Run!”

The little girl, at a loss for what to do, tried to hide in her arms. Frantic, the woman suddenly slapped her across the face and screamed, “No one wants you! Get away from me! Run that way and get out of my sight!”

Terrified, the girl took a few steps away from the woman, then finally ran off into the distance. The woman breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the tiny figure disappear. As long as the girl made it past the intersection ahead, she would be out of the great array, and someone would meet her and take her away from this hellish place.

But the little girl ran back, grabbing the woman’s arm with both hands and using every ounce of her strength to try to drag her along. Just then, a bald woman with cyan eyes slowly stepped out of the shadows.

The scene shifted again. The little girl was now lying in the hands of the statue atop the lotus pillar, barely clinging to life. Servants were bustling back and forth, carrying one infant after another into the hall to be bathed. Pills were constantly being brought out of the pill chambers, brewed into medicinal broth, and fed to the infants.

Suddenly, a slender beam of sword light shot out from an infant’s forehead, soaring ten zhang into the air!

The lofty, imposing figure appeared, scooped up the infant, and roared with laughter. “A natural-born Myriad Vicissitudes Sword Body! The secret technique does work, hahahaha! With this, that little bastard is useless. Hmph! If she hadn’t diluted the bloodline, I wouldn’t have had to wait this long!”

He carried the infant away. The bald woman with cyan eyes slowly raised her hand and pointed at the lotus pillar.

The numerous cultivators seated in a circle around the lotus pillar acted in unison, shooting out jets of true fire and igniting it. The flames rose rapidly, burning toward the top.

The bound woman suddenly went berserk and sent several Avatar Truemen flying. Then, she charged toward the lotus pillar, transforming mid-air and revealing her true form.

The lofty, imposing figure gave a snort and hurled a chain from afar, binding the demon. However, the transformed woman ignored it and leaped frantically, coiling around the lotus pillar and using her body to block the raging true fire from spreading to the girl at the top.

The little girl’s consciousness was already fading, yet she kept repeating, “... Don’t chase me away, don’t chase me away....”

The demon was gradually being reduced to charcoal by the true fire, yet she neither moved nor uttered a sound.

A surge of resentment shot skyward, casting a dim shadow over the entire plaza.

A faint, shrill voice echoed, “This pill wouldn’t have extended nearly as much lifespan without this much resentment....”

All light faded from the young swordsman’s eyes. His head slowly drooped, and life left him.

Two new sword techniques were added to Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness. The first was called The Beginning of Myriad Autumns, and the last was called The End of All Vicissitudes.

1. Trauma from the Paper Wedding Gown trap lol. ☜

2. While others say, “It’s just a flesh wound!” Wei Yuan says, “It’s just a fatal wound!” ☜

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